Perhaps the only major component to carry over unchanged from the D1H is the 1005 pixel metering CCD, though in the D2H it's called upon to do a lot more than measure ambient light.

For the D2H, Nikon has developed a new camera body, new autofocus system, new shutter, new image sensor and image processing, new wireless TTL flash system, new battery and charger, new digital control layout on the rear of the camera, new rear LCD monitor, new viewfinder information display and more. And they tossed in wireless LAN transmitting (with the WT-1 accessory transmitter) directly from the camera for good measure.

In short, this is not an upgrade to the D1H as much as it's a new class of Nikon pro camera.

Nikon D2H Feature Overview

D2H major features include:

Magnesium alloy body with environmental protection

D2H environmental seals

11 area Multi-CAM2000 AF system (9 sensors are cross-type); AF sensors cover 75% of the frame horizontally and are arranged in a "rule of thirds" grid

Top shutter speed of 1/8,000; standard top flash sync speed of 1/250 (plus full i-TTL flash at up to 1/8000 with the SB-800 set to Auto FP High-Speed Sync). It's not possible to cheat the flash sync well above the standard top flash sync speed with non-dedicated strobes, as it is with the D1H

Viewfinder shows approx. 100% of picture-taking area and incorporates two information displays beneath and to the right of the viewing area; right information displays shows ISO, file format, white balance setting and whether voice memo feature is activated

Eyepiece cover locks in place to prevent loss

FUNC button on front of camera near lens mount is programmable; can be set to act as FV-Lock button, to switch metering modes temporarily and more

Orientation sensor indicates whether the camera is horizontal or vertical (90° left or 90° right) at the time the picture is taken; the image file is tagged with this information. Nikon View 6.1 will automatically orient photos right way up

Auto White Balance (AWB) range is 2500K to 10,000K; AWB combines data from the 1005 pixel metering sensor, external Ambience Light Sensor and from the image sensor itself to determine white balance; AWB system can detect the flicker of artificial light sources such as fluorescent and apply colour compensation to account for that; SB-800 strobes communicates colour information to the AWB system based on flash duration

Up to 5 Preset White Balance (PWB) settings may be stored; each one can have a unique name (up to 36 characters); PWB can be determined from existing photo on a CF card, from a measurement with the Ambience Light Sensor and more

Automatic Tone Compensation combines data from the 1005 pixel metering sensor, external Ambience Light Sensor and from the image sensor itself to determine the tone curve to be applied; there are three manual Tone Compensation settings (Normal, Less Contrast, More Contrast) plus Custom

In-camera sharpening options are Auto, 5 manual increments plus None

Camera includes a single CompactFlash Type I/II slot; cards over 2GB, as well as Lexar's Write Acceleration technology, are supported